---
title: "In Honor of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Here’s the Only Fact You Need to Know | Phish Protection"
description: "In Honor of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Here’s the Only Fact You Need to Know: Cybersecurity is about keeping the bad guys out of your network."
image: "https://phishprotection.com/og/blog/in-honor-of-cybersecurity-awareness-month-heres-the-only-fact-you-need-to-know.png"
canonical: "https://phishprotection.com/blog/in-honor-of-cybersecurity-awareness-month-heres-the-only-fact-you-need-to-know/"
---

Quick Answer

You might think the most vulnerable part of your network is the equipment. Afterall, \_there's at least some equipment in every company or household that's exposed to the Internet\_. Whether that's a firewall or router or web server, it's out there and it's vulnerable.

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![Phish Protection blog post image](https://media.mailhop.org/phishprotection/images/2019/10/email-phishing-protection-3601.jpg) 

### Two ways to penetrate a network

\_Cybersecurity is about keeping the bad guys out of your network. Whether it’s your home network or the one at wor\_k, once the bad guys get in, they can wreak all kinds of havoc. The good news, if you can call it that, is there’s really only two ways to penetrate any network: _exploit equipment or exploit people_. If you can stop both of these, you can keep your **network safe**.

### Vulnerability of web-facing equipment

You might think the most vulnerable part of your network is the equipment. Afterall, _there’s at least some equipment in every company or household that’s exposed to the Internet_. Whether that’s a firewall or router or web server, it’s out there and it’s vulnerable.

All web-facing equipment comes with some kind of **built-in security** capability. However, they can still be vulnerable from misconfiguration and unpatched software. But, from a cybersecurity standpoint, web-facing equipment comes with a built-in tactical advantage.

For the most part, attacking a piece of equipment is done one-on-one. _That means the bad guy has to specifically target a piece of equipment and take the time to look for vulnerabilities to exploit_. And since they only have so much time, the bad guys tend to spend their time on high-value targets like banks and hospitals. _Exploiting people is another story_.

### Vulnerability of people

Unlike equipment, penetrating networks by exploiting people can be done en masse. It’s accomplished with the use of **phishing emails**.[ Phishing emails](https://www.phishing.org/what-is-phishing) are emails sent in large numbers with the purpose of getting recipients to click on a link within the email and then causing a bunch of havoc.

![Email phishing protection](https://media.mailhop.org/phishprotection/images/2019/10/email-phishing-protection-3601.jpg) 

### Phishing is a big problem

_Phishing is a big problem. How big of a problem it is brings us to the only cybersecurity fact you need to know._

[**91% Of Cyberattacks Start With A Phishing Email**](https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/91--of-cyberattacks-start-with-a-phishing-email/d/d-id/1327704)

That’s right. If you’re a bad guy and you want to **penetrate networks**, you exploit people and not equipment. And if you’re a company trying to protect yourself from bad guys, you make sure your employees are just a locked down as your equipment.

### Protection against phishing attacks

_How do protect yourself and your company from phishing attacks?_ Two ways. The first is **awareness training**. Good awareness training makes people suspicious and suspicious people are good when it comes to cybersecurity.

The other way is with cloud-based [anti-phishing software](/). What we know from research is that even the best awareness training is only **98% effective**. And when it comes to protecting your network, 98% just isn’t good enough.

![Email phishing protection](https://media.mailhop.org/phishprotection/images/2019/10/email-phishing-protection-3602.jpg) 

###  Anti-phishing software

Cloud-based anti-phishing software takes the responsibility for securing your networks out of the hands of people, and places into the hands of software specifically designed to weed out phishing emails. _It keeps most phishing emails out of inboxes so people don’t even have the chance to do any damage_. And for the handful that get through, it provides **real-time link protection** so even if someone does click on a malicious link, nothing bad happens.

Remember, 91% of **cybersecurity attacks** start with a phishing email. If you’re not protected against that, you’re not protected. To get protected, head on over to[ PhishProtection.com](/). It sets up in 10 minutes and provides [phishing protection](/) for pennies a month per account. 91%!

## Topics

[ Phishing Awareness ](/tags/phishing-awareness/) 

![Brad Slavin](https://media.mailhop.org/phishprotection/images/authors/brad-slavin.jpg) 

[ Brad Slavin ](/authors/brad-slavin/) 

General Manager

Founder and General Manager of DuoCircle. Product strategy and commercial lead across DuoCircle's 2,000+ customer base.

[LinkedIn Profile →](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradslavin) 

## Protect your inbox from phishing attacks

Real-time email security with 60-day free trial. No credit card required.

[Start Free Trial](https://portal.duocircle.com/cart.php?a=add&pid=101&brand=phishprotection) [View Pricing](/pricing/) 

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